"No matter what happens in the kitchen, never apologize" - Julia Child

September 13, 2011

Dining Out in the City of Brotherly Love

Over the weekend, MG and I went on our second (and my third) weekend trip in a row. This time, we headed off to Pennsylvania for the wedding of one of MG's college friends. We had a great time at the wedding!

Sunday morning we got up early and after a workout in the Holiday Inn Express fitness room (where apparently the circuit can't handle 2 treadmills and the TV all operating at once) we drove to Philadelphia to meet up with MG's parents, younger brother and family friends for lunch. I had only been to Philadelphia once before (so I'm told - I think I was about 4 years old), so we arrived early and did a little sightseeing. We toured the Old Quaker Meeting House and the Christ Church Cemetery where Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush are buried. It was very cool, but there are so many other things I'd like to see, so we definitely have a full weekend trip planned sometime in the next year.

For lunch we went to the Old City neighborhood where MG's parents had made a reservation at Fork. It was a fantastic meal with great food and great company!

We started with a roll service - I selected the whole grain and MG had the fruit and nut. Although there were a lot of really delicious-looking options on the brunch menu, I knew immediately what I wanted when I saw butternut squash soup with toasted pepitas. I am a sucker for all squash (it might be my favorite veggie ever. Except for eggplant. And avocado. Hmmm...) and the the cooler weather has got me all excited for fall flavors. I also had a pickled beet salad with garden vegetables, chevre and a lemony aioli dressing. Beets - another favorite of mine (I'm going to just take it all back and not pick a favorite veggie).

Tastes of fall and summer, all in one meal!

MG had fruit salad and a frittata with potatoes, green olives, tomato sauce and almonds.

After lunch we stopped for coffees at a local shop and then walked over to Reading Terminal Market. I was really excited to visit, because I am a big fan of big indoor markets, but unfortunately about 1/3 of the booths were closed on Sundays. We did find an awesome little shop that sold lots of fun kitchen items and bought some cookie cutters and two mini-springform pans! I am a sucker for mini-baking items. I can't wait to make a mini-cheesecake or two. They are just so cute :)

We spotted this storefront next to the coffeeshop. I have no idea what it is.

Possibly something from a Stephen King novel? Obviously I had to take a picture.

We got a little lost on our way here.

Trotters.

Why don't we have this in D.C.? I love Eastern Market, but this is way better...

Finally we headed back to the car for the return trip to D.C. It was a great weekend, although I have to be honest - I'm really excited about the next three weekends at home before we kick off our October of crazy travel. Despite all the busy-ness though, we have found time to cook here and there, so I promise there will be some recipes in the near future!